Constant delays and cancellation on Southern

Penelopa.Pitstop

We moved to Southern Railways route and now suffering from constant cancellation and delays. Trains are hardly ever on time or are cancelled mid way and passengers offloaded.

For example today my husband sent me following text message: "Train was terminated in Purley and next connecting train to Victoria is delayed by 40 minutes. Huge crowds on Purley station, I'm going back home" (Caterham)

How can I claim for all these delays? How can I check actual train running times to raise claims with Southern? I have Oyster card history for entering and leaving train station.

This link was posted in another thread http://recenttraintimes.co.uk/ but it doesn't show me any trains at all when I do search on Caterham - Victoria or Caterham - London Bridge route.

We buy monthly travelcard for my husband but at least once a week he has to work form home due to industrial action, train cancellations or delays. I don't know if complaining to anyone could give me back let say 25% of travel cost back? I find Southern train service appalling after using SWT for last 7 years.

Andy_L

Southern's web site has an online form to fill in for delay repay

NBLondon

If it goes on much longer - house prices along the routes served by Southern are going to start dropping.. wonder if anyone will try and claim for that?


Anyway - the simple answer is http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/customer-services/delay-repay/ and you will eventually get a proportion of your travel card back - nowhere near 25% though - and be prepared to submit multiple screenshots of how you paid for it and the Oyster history.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Which means I have to take screenshots everyday and fill in claims at least on weekly basis. And there's no way to claim money back for strike unless you have seasonal railway card. No option to claim for it if you have TfL travelcard.

wealdroam

Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »

Which means I have to take screenshots everyday and fill in claims at least on weekly basis.

Looks to me to be quite reasonable to expect you to demonstrate that you have been delayed.
How else to you expect to get compensation if you don't claim it?

There is nothing in their compensation process that requires you to take screenshots.

Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »

And there's no way to claim money back for strike unless you have seasonal railway card.

You are wrong to make that assertion.

I received an email from Southern Railway on Saturday about the forthcoming strike on 4-5 November.
One sentence in that email is:

During the strikes, please make sure you check for and claim the compensation you're entitled to receive.

Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »

No option to claim for it if you have TfL travelcard.

Again you are wrong.
That Southern Railway link does not exclude TfL Travelcard holders.

Penelopa.Pitstop

I just filled bunch of claims, together with today's (32 minutes delay). I will come back and let you know if I got any money back for days of strike and unexpected terminations.

tim9966

Real time Trains,


For example http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W74846/2016/11/01/advanced
Just picked a train on your route today which shows it left 22 minutes late, and arrived 12 minutes late at Victoria.


Have a search at http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced
It only goes back a week though,

Penelopa.Pitstop

All submitted claims were approved, however £2.90 refund is nowhere near actual loss in case of strike. Monthly travel card costs £227, and Southern assumes it's ok to refund just for the first leg of travel when in fact we lose whole day of travel and around £11.60 per day (pre-paid cost of travel for one day).

I guess I'm done with buying travel cards and def. avoiding public transport whenever possible.

martindow

Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »

All submitted claims were approved, however £2.90 refund is nowhere near actual loss in case of strike. Monthly travel card costs £227, and Southern assumes it's ok to refund just for the first leg of travel when in fact we lose whole day of travel and around £11.60 per day (pre-paid cost of travel for one day).

I guess I'm done with buying travel cards and def. avoiding public transport whenever possible.

But it was your choice to abandon your journey at Purley. You could have continued to Victoria and claimed for a delay on the whole journey.

You're lucky that travel into London is optional - most people have no choice but to battle on.

Despite my comments, it must be hell dealing with these problems on Southern day after day.

NBLondon

^^^^^


That's why I said don't expect 25% back! The formula uses a fixed proportion of what you paid for your season - depending on whether it is monthly or quarterly - for the journey that was delayed. Not for hypothetical journeys that you wanted to make but abandoned.


I get about £1.60 back from SouthEastern each time they mess up. Often I don't get anything because the delay is around 20 minutes and doesn't reach the trigger point. I claim whenever I can on principle!

Sicard

Southern rail operator warned it will not be able to bid for new franchises says the rail minister, Claire Perry. They should not be allowed to bid unless performance improves https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/11/southern-rail-operator-warned-not-able-bid-new-franchises